TURKISH INTELLECTUALS GIVE PERSONAL APOLOGY FOR 1915 EVENTS

Today’s Zaman
Dec 5 2008
Turkey

A group of Turkish intellectuals have apologized for the "great
disaster that Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915" but have fallen
short of calling on the state to do the same.

A petition initiated by a group of intellectuals, including professors
Baskın Oran and Ahmet İnsel, journalists Ali Bayramoglu and Cengiz
Aktar, personally apologizes for the events.

The group is asking other people to sign the petition, which reads
as follows: "I cannot conscientiously accept the indifference to
the great disaster that Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915, and its
denial. I reject this injustice and acting of my own will, I share
the feelings and pains of my Armenian brothers and sisters, and I
apologize to them."

The organizers of the campaign have underlined that first they will
collect signatures from intellectuals and they will then open a secure
Web site to collect signatures.

Oran pointed out that they had written the text for individuals since
the tragedy was very human. "We are searching for human beings. We
thought about urging the state to apologize but we decided to let
individuals act according to their conscience. This call is for
everybody," he said.

The petition, which has already become the target of nationalists,
has led to criticism from other intellectuals.

Aytekin Yıldız, the coordinator of the Confrontation Association
(YuzleÅ~_me Dernegi), pointed out that the Armenian community was
already aware of the fact that there are many people in Turkey of
conscience, and the important thing was not to declare what is already
known. "It is a good starting point, but not enough. Firstly, what do
they mean by ‘great disaster’? Let’s name it, it is genocide. Secondly,
the state has to apologize," Yıldız pointed out.

Historian AyÅ~_e Hur said apologizing is the duty of those who were
responsible for the act, or for those who share their arguments. "It
seems that a very elite group discussed that petition, because I
learnt about this petition from the media and I was surprised," she
said, and added: "I approach these types of events as a scientist, as
a historian, not as a member of the Turkish nation. For me, all these
events were the fault of Turkish nationalism flourishing at that time,
and personally, I don’t identify with it, so I do not feel the need
to apologize personally."

She also pointed out that the petitioners are concentrating only on
1915; however, she says there were events after and before. "There is
a state tradition which legitimizes all these events and prevents any
discussion about them. Firstly, the state has to ensure a suitable
atmosphere to discuss all these things; then it has to apologize on
behalf of the perpetrators and for itself, because it has legitimized
their actions through the years."

Another figure, a prominent intellectual who wanted to remain
anonymous, said to apologize is not the responsibility of the
individual but that of the state. He said Defense Minister Vecdi
Gönul’s remarks at a speech he gave in November were not acceptable.

In that speech, the minister suggested that the "success" of the
republic lay in the nation-building process. "If there were Greeks in
the Aegean and Armenians in most places in Turkey today, would it be
the same nation-state? I don’t know what words I can use to explain
the importance of the population exchange, but if you look at the
former state of affairs, its importance will become very clear,"
Gönul said. He added that in those days, Ankara was composed of
four neighborhoods — Armenian, Jewish, Greek and Muslim — and
claimed that after the nation-building process, it became possible
to establish a national bourgeoisie.

The Lausanne Treaty, signed in 1923, set in motion a population
exchange between Greek Orthodox citizens of the young Turkish Republic
and Muslim citizens of Greece, which resulted in the displacement
of approximately 2 million people. The Armenian population that was
in Turkey before the establishment of Turkish Republic was forced
to emigrate in 1915, and, according to some, the conditions of this
expulsion are the basis of Armenian claims of genocide.

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